Israeli snipers shoot dead six Palestinian protesters

By Raf Sanchez

Gaza City: At least six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on the Gaza border on Friday, as thousands of demonstrators burnt tyres to send towers of thick black smoke into the sky.

The deaths mean that 28 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli snipers since Gaza residents last week began the Great March of Return, a series of weekly border protests demanding the right to return to their ancestral homes in what is today Israel.

Around 20,000 Palestinians flocked to five protest sites along the border, according to the Israeli military. More than 1000 people were injured in clashes with Israeli troops, said the Palestinian health ministry, which is controlled by the Hamas militant group.

Palestinian protesters chant slogans next to burning tires during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.Credit:AP

Demonstrators burned hundreds of rubber tyres all along the Israeli frontier, creating a wall of smoke which they hoped would blind Israeli marksmen. Israeli forces used fire hoses to try to put out the flames and large turbine fans to keep the noxious smoke from blowing into Israel.

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The overwhelming majority of the protesters were unarmed and the small handful who did carry weapons were wielding small axes, knives, or heavy shears to try to cut through the Israel fence. The Daily Telegraph saw no firearms in the crowds.

The Israeli military alleged that Hamas operatives had tried to use the chaos of the riots to damage the border fence. A spokesman said there were at least four attempts to throw improvised bombs towards Israeli forces.

No Israelis were killed or wounded during either the demonstrations on Friday or the clashes last week.

António Guterres, the UN secretary general, had earlier appealed to the Israeli military to use "extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties" among demonstrators.

Palestinian protesters call others to bring more tyres to burn during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel.Credit:AP

Human rights groups have criticised the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) for its policy of directing sniper fire on those who come too close to the fence, arguing that lethal force is only permissible to counter an imminent threat to life.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, of the IDF, said Israel was "using less lethal means to the greatest extent possible before using lethal means". He said Israeli forces were justified in opening fire to prevent Palestinians breaking through the Gaza border fence.

"The reason we are so adamant about the integrity of the fence is because it is all that separates thousands of rioters from the nearest Israeli targets, which could be a kibbutz, or a farm, or other Israeli communities, or Israeli soldiers," he said.

The protests were significantly less bloody than last week, when 16 Palestinians were killed during the day and others died later from their injuries.

Palestinians at a protest site east of Gaza City said the vast plumes of tyre smoke had also reduced the killings.

"The burning tyres helped us because snipers can't see us. But also people did not go as far as this week because they did not want to go past the smoke," said one man.

Many women and children stood amid the crowds at the border and young Palestinians flew colourful kites into the blackened skies, where they shared airspace with Israeli surveillance drones.

Israel claims that Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the US and UK, was behind the demonstrations. Several senior Hamas leaders did visit protest camps on Friday.

But most of the people gathered at the border said they were not affiliated with Hamas or any other faction. The protests are expected to continue every Friday until May 15, when Palestinians commemorate "the Nakba", the Arabic word for catastrophe, when they were displaced from their homes in 1948.